Aw, so you think mine are pretty?

Ahoy mates, those of you who are still out there. We must apologize for the long delay, or should I say, I must apologize for the delay. Although my sous is always willing... alas the head of this galley has been somewhat lethargic the last few weeks. But no need for worries as I have caught the bounty of the spring winds and filled my sails with the promise of green grass, budding flowers and full glasses of fine wine.

This past week my degrees of separation from our Captain have decreased significantly as I met one of the silent partners of Eataly. While at lunch with my boss (Craig) at Eataly (between client meetings) sharing a slice of focaccia and a cold beer we ran into one of the partners and Craig introduced me. We quickly discussed the blog and the abundance of selections at Eatlay. As my heart raced I thought of Mario (my son) and of how cool I was going to look in his eyes that night.

The silent partner, Craig and I discussed the beef cheeks and I knew this would be the headliner of our weekend dinner. Later that week as I approached the butcher and asked for the beef cheeks I was told I would have to order them 48 hours in advance! Oh, the agony of defeat, shaking my head back and forth. But the glass always being half full I picked up some prosciutto, olives and peasant bread as appetizers for Saturday's feast!

With our appetizer selected Mario and I had to come up with an alternative to the beef cheek ravioli. We selected the Asparagus and Ricotta Ravioli (page 125 Babbo Cookbook). This would be our second attempt at making pasta and although we were successful the last time we tried, it had been so long ago that our confidence was low. We plowed ahead and prepped the flour, eggs and olive oil. After our dough rested for 30 minutes we began the process of rolling out the pasta and creating the asparagus/ricotta filled ravioli. This is where the night took a dark turn.

As we carefully cut, scooped and trimmed off the access pasta from our raviolis, I noticed through the corner of my eye a stowaway! She slowly crept in and stole all of the trimmings. I left her alone as my curiosity got the best of me, what could this dark shadow be up to? To our amusement she was creating her own "Frankenstein" ravioli, careful not to scope up any asparagus in the ricotta mix. She was a pasta vampire and asparagus was her garlic. Below is the gruesome evidence of her evil plot.

As the sun came up or should I say the lights came on in the dining room we served up the ravioli and we all enjoyed a great meal. Mariesa confessed that she wanted hers to look as pretty as mine, which I replied "Aw, so you think mine are pretty?" We agreed it had been too long since our last Three Tocayo adventure and promised to meet again next week.

Ciao,
Mario & Mario

The Three Tocayos